A break from the tests and trials of the Premier League for a moment to celebrate one of the most enduring individual Stoke City performances.

It was 14 years ago today when Peter Hoekstra single-handedly put Reading to the sword, scoring a terrific hat-trick in a 3-0 win at the Britannia Stadium. That included a 20-yard stunner and a Panenka penalty.

It was, Martin Spinks explained in his match report, well… brilliant.

He wrote: “His English may never be as fluent as his football, but Peter Hoekstra was neither deaf nor blind to some of the things being said or written.

“Accused by many, perhaps too many, of being an injury-prone, fair-weather foreigner at various points during his two-and-a-half years at the Britannia, but convicted by everyone of being a rare talent of distinguished pedigree.

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“Maybe, just maybe, those injuries really were genuine and the latest ankle operation is indeed the final cure he has long been seeking.

“Let’s not forget this was a player prepared to throw his lot in with a Second Division club when he signed his first contract — and accepted a near 50 per cent pay cut when he signed his second.

“And if motivation ever should be a problem at this stage of a career once graced by the red and white of Ajax, not to mention the bright orange of Holland, then perhaps the name of Reading should be smuggled more often into his English vocabulary.

“On their last visit he was a key component in that crucial last-day victory last season; on their last but one visit he turned in his most mesmerising display yet on a day when the populace were ready to revolt over the sale of Peter Thorne three days earlier.

“And this time he was to produce his most profitable display — not only for Stoke, but arguably his entire career.”

He said: “It was the first hat-trick of my life. With three goals and a good win, ja, it’s all right.”

The rout began in the 18th minute when a long punt downfield may have caught the wind as it beat everyone but the alert Hoekstra who, having skipped a tackle, then rounded the keeper and popped the ball into the unguarded goal.

His second was also his best some eight minutes later when he deftly controlled Lewis Neal’s crossfield ball, homed in on goal, decided against crossing and simply lashed a 20-yarder past a goalkeeper no doubt anticipating a delivery rather than a shot.

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“Their defenders didn’t come to me and the wind was behind me,” he said, “so I gave it a go. It was a good goal also. After scoring the first goal early we can play on the counter and that is our strength.”

The game was just about done and dusted by the time he turned left-back Nicky Shorey inside out and was tripped down the right channel in the 87th minute.

Carl Asaba or John Eustace would normally have taken the penalty, but the ball was handed to Hoekstra so as to complete his treble with a cheeky chip down the middle of the goal as the keeper tumbled to his left.

He said: “They said to me to go for the hat-trick and I said ‘Okay, let’s do it.’ Before you take a penalty you say to yourself you are going to take it a certain way and you mustn’t change your mind.”

He didn’t, and the upshot was the crowning glory to a wonderful day’s work fully warranting the standing ovation accompanying his late substitution.

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Gerry Taggart’s second appearance, meanwhile, was every bit as solid, if not quite so demanding, as his first, while confidence throughout the back line was flourishing after their first back-to-back clean sheets.

Suddenly, from the gloom inspired by a 3-2 home defeat to Cardiff seven days earlier, two wins and six points were promising to transform Stoke’s fortunes in the nether regions of the First Division.

Long-term progress may have been slow, painfully slow at times, but Stoke had reached 26 points some 10 games and two-and-a-half months sooner than they had done the previous season.